How Do Cows Go?
by SallyJetson
Summary: What is the significance of that three letter word? Spoilers for 3x14.


**Author's Note 1: **Major spoilers for 3x14!!

**Author's Note 2:** Thank you to **MariaLisa** for her beta, encouragement and support. **HUGS**

**Author's Note 3: **This is in response to a fan fic challenge by **Pizzapie. **What is the significance of **MOO** in the note?

DISCLAIMERS: I do not own any of these characters. They belong to Jerry Bruckheimer and the wonderful writers for CSI: NY. Any resemblance to scenes from the episodes is included for clarity and continuity and I do not claim any of those as my own work. However everything else is mine.

**How Do Cows Go? **

He picked up the card that had fallen to floor and stared at it.

He'd been distracted ever since he'd witnessed the scene in Mac's office earlier. He had watched them through the glass wall, powerless to tear himself away as he realized how much he wanted it to be him who she was hugging goodbye, him with who she was sharing her reasons for leaving, and him to who she wanted to return. Instead he was locked out by the only heart he had ever wanted to know completely and possess for his own. He need not have worried about being detected for she never saw him standing there with his heart in his eyes and the pain on his face.

Now he stared at his name scrolled across the front of the envelope, barely able to believe that it was her handwriting. His breath caught in his throat and he felt the reverberations of his heartbeat throughout his body as he pulled out the card. It could be more heartache but he had to know the contents. As he read the words, a smile spread across his face and a host of memories swarmed through his mind. Before he had time to dwell on those memories, Mac walked into the lab to talk about the case and send him out to interview the suspects again.

Hours later, sitting on the couch in his dimly lit apartment he opened the card, reread the words and finally let the memories wash over him in sweet remembrance and longing.

_Dear Danny, _

_I'm not good at long _

_goodbyes. Or short _

_ones for that matter. _

_But Montana calls and _

_the cows are heading home. _

_MOO _

'MOO', he chuckled, recalling how that joke had started.

The whole team had been at the hospital checking on Flack who had been seriously injured in the line of duty. Once they had been assured that Flack was stable and there was nothing else they could do for him, he had offered her a ride home. They had stopped to get a cup of coffee and had chatted, mostly about work, but with a sprinkling of small talk. It had felt so comfortable that he had realized he wanted to know more and more about her: what she liked for breakfast, why she sometimes wore her hair up, whether she was a morning or a night person, what side of the bed she slept on, so when he had walked her to the door of her apartment later, he had tried to think of some clever way to finagle more time with her without outright asking her out. He had felt, given the serious occurrences of the day, he would sound like a callous jerk asking her out at that moment.

_She put her key into the door as he leaned up against the wall of her building and blurted out, "So, Montana, what do people in Montana do for kicks?" _

_She turned to his smirking face, displaying a small smile and raised eyebrows of her own, as she queried, "kicks, Messer?" _

_"Yeah, ya know… fun?" _

_She leaned a shoulder against the door and a half-shy, half-sweet, toothy smile spread across her face causing his heart to do a little flip. _

_"For kicks, we tell cow jokes." _

_"Really…," he nodded his head, pushing out his bottom lip in contemplation. "So, ya care to try out your best one on me?" _

_She looked at him for a moment obviously trying to figure out his reasoning for wanting to hear a cow joke. Finally she shrugged, "Okay you're on, Knock, Knock" _

_He laughed, "A Knock, Knock joke?" _

_"Come on, Messer you said you wanted to hear it, so you have to play nice." _

_"Okay, okay," holding up his hands in mock resignation. "Set me up again!" _

_"Knock, Knock" _

_"Who's there?" _

_"Cowsgo," her big, brown eyes were twinkling now. _

_He groaned, "Cowsgo who? _

_"Wrong answer, city boy. Cows- go- MOOOO!" She poked him in the chest with an index finger as she laughed in glee. _

_" Montana," he groaned again. "That is so corny." _

_"Maybe you're too jaded," she teased and then quickly tried to stifle a yawn. "Sorry, but sleep is calling me. It's been a long day." _

_"Yeah, I guess you're right." _

_"Good night Danny," she said softly. _

_"Night, Montana," he returned. _

_And she disappeared through the door._

He remembered at the time wanting to touch her cheek or even kiss her but had stopped at 'Night, Montana', not willing to ruin the perfect moment. He had been sure there would be other opportunities.

A few days later, they had hit an impasse on analyzing some evidence.

_"I don't know what to make of this… we've looked at it from every angle!" she sighed in frustration. _

_"Yeah, there's gotta be something we're missing." _

_"But what?" she shook her head, "I think I need to take a breather!" _

_"Agreed. Hey Montana, lay one on me!" he suddenly said to her. _

_"Beg your pardon Messer?" she widened her eyes at him. _

_"Ya know, one of your cow jokes… to break the tension… lighten the mood." _

_"Oh…" she breathed and cocked her head in concentration. _

_"C'mon on Monroe, these should be on the tip of your tongue," he teased. _

_"I know, I know but I'm out of practice give me a second," she giggled. "Okay, where do cows go when they want a night out?" _

_He shrugged. _

_"The MOOOOO-vies." _

_This time he noticed how her lips puckered into a deliciously kissable state when she drew out the 'MOOOOO' and he licked his lips. This little joke venture was paying off in more ways than one. _

And so it had went throughout the summer; every now and again when the processing was slow or the case was particularly tough he'd ask for a cow joke and she'd oblige. He had become addicted to the light in her eyes as she relayed the joke and the delectable pucker of her lips as she delivered the 'MOOOO' in the punch line. He could never have imagined, in a million years that hearing cow jokes from a country girl could be such a turn on.

His favorite though had been when she had snuck up behind him in the lab on his birthday and whispered in his ear, "Happy MOOOO-day to you!"

Everything about that moment had sent a blaze of desire surging through his body: the way she leaned over his shoulder, her hair brushing tantalizingly across his neck, her sweet scent suffusing the air around him, her warm breath tickling his ear and the vision of her lips in that delicious pucker. If they had been alone in the lab, he would have snagged her and planted a hard kiss on her lips as appropriate payback for that little trick, but he consoled himself that he'd catch her after work.

But late in their shift they had been called to a crime scene that had been so incredibly bloody and gruesome that he had stood just inside the police tape and gawked. Lindsay had ducked under the tape momentarily, pausing beside him, sucking in her breath.

_"I don't think the cows are gonna help us out here," he remarked grimly. _

_"No, I'd say they are heading home on this one," she replied faintly. _

Of course they had processed the scene, analyzed the evidence and solved the crime and things had returned to normal, cow jokes and all.

Somewhere along the way though, he wasn't quite sure of when, he recognized that he was traveling a different path with her than he'd traveled with other women that he had been attracted to. Everything about her touched him in some special and unique way and he relished taking his time, savoring each and every moment… until the diamond heist case.

The takedown in the diamond heist case had swept their latent feelings to the surface and that moment had convinced him that it was time to move into a serious relationship. However, the failed date and the conversation in the hall just days later had stalled those hopes so he had decided to give her the support and time she said needed to allow her to take him into her confidence.

Now, sitting in the dim light of his apartment, the frustration, the confusion, the hurt, and the pain that had been building since that moment in the hallway evaporated because the words….

_But Montana calls and _

_the cows are heading home. _

_MOO _

__

_See you soon _

_ Montana _

told him everything he needed to know. He chuckled.

_Many MOO's to you too Montana and hurry home 'cause I'm waiting!_


End file.
